Dark brown mahogany with a thick, tight brown head that eventually leaves messy spots of lace down the glass. The beer looks particularly thick for a milk/sweet stout. Beautiful.

The aroma is full of cedar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mild pumpkin/gourd characteristics--more earthy than sweet. I find none of the acidity I'm fearful of in milk/sweet stouts.

The flavor is too much dominated by cedar for it to really triumph, hiding some of the more nuanced earthy pumpkin. There's plenty of nutmeg and pumpkin pie character, which is nice, but the cedar is definitely dominating.

Medium to full bodied with moderate to high carbonation.

A very nice pumpkin pie/cedar beer, though I wish the pumpkin character was more present in the flavor. (793 characters)

On tap at The Bruery Tasting room. Some sour aroma and sour taste, with some pumpkin and roasted pumpkin seed. Reddish brown, sugar to offset it. An OK pumpkin beer slash Belgian, with some flavour and OK drinkability, would like more bold spice. Average mouthfeel. (265 characters)

Served from bottle into a Mikkeller taster flute. Poured a massively dark brown with a one finger tan head that subsided to a minimal amount quickly. Maintained nice lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, cedar, pumpkin, spice, and brown sugar. The flavor was of sweet malt, roasted malt, wood, pumpkin, spice, fruit, and subtle brown sugar. It had a medium feel on the palate with medium-high carbonation. Overall this was a pretty good brew. The cedar on this one definitely ran the show in this brew. The cedar dominated the aroma on this one and the flavor while having loads of cedar in it, still allowed the more subtle flavors to come through. Quite a nice brew from the Bruery. (714 characters)

Pours a dark cola-brown with a foamy khaki-colored head that settles to a thick cap. Spice (cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg) and cedar dominates the nose, along with some sweet pumpkin, dark roasted malt, and cream. Taste is similarly spice-dominated, with more nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove. A bit too spicy for my liking, this moves away from being a "pumpkin beer" into "spice beer" territory. The Milk Stout base is a nice touch, but can't hide (or balance) the high spice quantity. Mouthfeel is fairly smooth and creamy, with a medium body and a touch too-high carbonation. Overall a decent experiment, but not a very good beer. A rare Bruery miss for me. (657 characters)

Smell: A lot of cedar and spice, to the point of obfuscating the malt at first. Pretty much smells like a cigar box. As it warms, a bit of sweet toasted malt does come through, but you have to search for it.

Palate: Cedar is dominant again, lending a woody, spicy and tannic character that isn't as abrasive as other beers I've had aged with cedar. Nonetheless it's still too overwhelming for my liking; it doesn't allow the malt to come through much until the finish, which has a mild roastiness and a touch of lactose sweetness and tang. There's plenty of pumpkin pie spice here too, though no real pumpkin flavor.

Not necessarily a bad beer, but not one I'd revisit. Probably would have been much better with toned down cedar and spice. (908 characters)